Secrets Don't Make Friends
by Heartstring
Summary: Tangled in a crash landing, a couple of the Marauders begin to notice a couple of girls...girls who have been noticing them for quite some time. But can everyone get through their denial long enough to make any headway?
1. Hit and Sprawl

Note: Hey, just to warn you, this is my first ever fan fiction, so read if you dare. :) Anywho, the name of the fic is subject to change, cause I don't think I like this one, and I'm not completely certain which direction I want this to head, although I have a good idea. So…here ya go!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot…anything you recognize, I don't own. If you don't recognize it, I probably do own it. I don't own Gobstoppers, either, although I have bought quite a few in my day.

* * *

**Chapter 1 - Hit and Sprawl**

James flung open the door to the library with a force like a whirlwind, the doorknob creating a dent in the wall behind. Eyes blazing with anger, he ignored the icy glare given him by Madam Pince, the young librarian, and headed straight to the back of the library. A moment later, Sirius followed, opening the door a bit more lightly, though a look of anger and frustration equal to that of his best friend's was pasted on his face. Bringing up the rear, Remus and Peter made their entrance, Remus looking rather bemused, Peter looking terrified. Without even pausing to glance, Remus pointed his wand over his shoulder at the large hole in the wall, which immediately fixed itself as the pair strode over to stand beside Sirius. Quite a spectacular show followed, as James, in the midst of his rage, skimmed his finger over the spines of the books, knocking them out of the shelves when they weren't what he was looking for. As he reached the end of an aisle, he rounded the corner and slapped a very large book, as big as his hand was long, on its spine. "Finally!" he yelled, heaving the book from its resting place and slamming it down on a nearby table, earning him another nasty look from behind the librarian's desk.

"OK," he started, and began furiously flipping through the pages of the inanely large book, stopping somewhere about three quarters of the way through it. Giving Sirius another rather angry glance, he began to read to himself. After a moments pause, he gave a triumphant "HA!" and began to read aloud.

"Sarcastic – adjective; one – of, like, or full of sarcasm; sneering. Two – using sarcasm.

Sardonic – adjective; _scornfully or bitterly sarcastic._ – you _were_ being sardonic!" he pointed an accusing finger in Sirius's face.

Sirius just stared at James for about half a minute with a look of mock hurt on his face. Chuckling, he shook his head and looked down at the table, closing he eyes. Everyone remained motionless, James still pointing his finger at Sirius. After a moment, Sirius looked up. "James…" he said reproachfully, and then pointed _his_ finger. "YOUR MOM!" he roared, with the ferocity of an angry football coach.

James babbled. He couldn't seem to decide on what to say; sentences and words formed in his mouth, but only half of these jumbles were uttered, until finally, he jabbed _his_ pointed finger in Sirius's direction and bellowed, "YOUR MOM MORE!"

"YOUR MOM TIMES ONE HUNDRED!"

"YOUR MOM TIMES A MILLION!"

"YOUR MOM TIMES INFINITY!"

"INFINITY IS MERELY AN ILLUSION PLACED UPON THE UNKNOWN TO REPRESENT VALUE!" – This was from Remus, who felt the need to barge in before it got ugly.

"YOU SHUT UP!"

"OUT!"

Madam Pince was storming towards them, a look of such anger on her face it was impossible to tell where her eyebrows ended and her eyes began. "OUT OF MY LIBRARY! AND CLEAN THIS MESS!" She gestured wildly towards James's rather large pile of discarded books.

"Yes Ma'am," the Marauders said quietly, and hung their heads as they left, James flicking his wand at the books on the floor. As soon as they were out of earshot of the door, all four burst into laughter.

"Your mom, Padfoot?" James laughed. "Honestly – was that the best comeback you could come up with?"

"Hey, at least I didn't interrupt an argument with," he put on a high voice, "infinity is merely an illusion, blah blah blah, I take arithmancy and read too much, yadda blah bl-OW!" he rubbed his head where Remus had hit him.

"All I was trying to do was keep Pince from hexing us until baby otters extracted themselves from our noses!"

"I wonder if there's actually a hex that could do that," Sirius said thoughtfully as he began walking down the hallway. The others followed.

"Well, why don't you find out, Padfoot, and get back to us on that." Remus said sarcastically.

"I think I will." Sirius stopped and turned, starting back they way they had come. James grabbed the back of his friend's robes before he has gone three steps, and began pulling him behind.

"I wouldn't go back into the library just yet. Wait a couple weeks, first, k?" James grinned.

Sirius grinned as well, shrugged, and got back in step with his friends.

Emlyn opened the door to her dorm quietly, and peeked around the edge at the four four-poster beds that lined the opposite wall. All were empty except for one. Dang it. She was still asleep. Emlyn sighed and strode into the room, making a point to slam the door behind her; it has no effect on the sleeping figure. Emlyn tapped the girl's shoulder. "Illy – wake up," she whispered. No response. "Illy!" – more forcefully. She pushed the girl a bit harder. "Illy! Wake up!" A moan came from the sleeping girl, and she flapped her hand lazily. Emlyn sighed. "Iliana Whitehurst, get out of bed!" she yelled. "It's three o'clock in the frickin afternoon!"

"And it's a Saturday, it doesn't matter," came Iliana's slurred reply as she turned her head away from Emlyn.

"It might not matter to you, but you've been asleep for eighteen hours, and I'm getting sick and tired of that first year coming up to me every five minutes asking where you are because you promised to help her with her Potions homework!" Emlyn tried to roll Iliana out of bed, but her friend was persistent, grabbing hold of the side of the mattress.

"You'd sleep for eighteen hours too if you had stayed up for 48 hours doing homework! And why does she need help with her homework, she can do it herself, she's a Ravenclaw for Chrissakes!" Iliana shot back sleepily.

Emlyn let out a squeal of frustration and tied her dirty blonde hair out of her eyes. This could get ugly. "Well if you hadn't procrastinated for _three weeks_, you wouldn't have gotten yourself into that mess in the first place." Her hazel eyes narrowed.

Iliana buried her face in her pillow, leaving black and blue streaks behind from the makeup she had failed to wash off the night before. "And I still made a 102 percent in transfiguration," came the quite muffled, rather smug reply. "Now let me go back to sleep."

"Ok, that's it," Emlyn muttered to herself. She knew her friend's boasting was all in fun (Emlyn wasn't much of a transfiguration gal), but this refusal to wake was becoming ridiculous. Emlyn shoved Iliana onto her back, jumped onto her, straddling her stomach, and swiped the pillow out from under Illy's head, shoving it into her face. Iliana's hands and feet swung wildly in every direction, striving to connect with any part of Emlyn's body. Instead, her foot came into contact (rather heavily) with the footboard. A muffled scream of pain and rage was emitted from under the pillow, followed by such a stream of vulgar words it would have made a sailor cringe. Finally, after strangled gasps started coming from the pillow, Emlyn let up and stepped quickly away from the bed.

"What the fuck is your problem?" Iliana gasped angrily, and threw the pillow so hard at Emlyn that a few feathers flew out of the end. "I don't enjoy being suffocated before I'm even properly awake!"

Emlyn caught the pillow full-on in the chest, but began laughing. The only time she had ever heard Iliana say anything remotely (or very) vulgar was when Illy was awakened prematurely, and Emlyn always found it quite funny. And now, looking at her friend's blazing brown eyes and makeup-streaked face, she couldn't help laughing.

"Oh, you think this is funny?" Illy grabbed her alarm clock.

Emlyn stopped laughing at once. "No," she said seriously. "But this is—" she raced out of the room, clutching Iliana's pillow.

"Hey! Bring that back!" And Iliana, still in her pajamas and bare feet, with her milk-chocolate-colored hair in one big knot, thundered out after Emlyn.

* * *

"So what do you want to do?" Sirius asked a moment later, to no one in particular.

Remus shrugged. "Don't care."

"We could eat lunch."

"Nah, we've eaten lunch twice already." James replied, an edge of boredom in his voice.

* * *

Emlyn laughed as she ran through the hallway out into the Ravenclaw common room. "Look out, everybody!" she yelled gleefully as the door crashed open, and Iliana streaked after her. Emlyn wrenched open the door that led into the hall, ripped past the tapestry that concealed it, and flew down the hallway, Iliana close behind.

* * *

"How about linner?" Sirius asked. "We could eat linner."

"Or dunch," piped in Peter.

"Or dunch," agreed Remus.

"I like linner better myself," James replied. "But let's go on back to the common room, we can discuss further there."

"Ok," the other three replied singly as they turned a corner.

Sirius pulled out a large candy wrapper from his pocket and made a very loud display of tearing it open.

"What's that?" asked Peter.

"It's a gobstopper!" Sirius said excitedly, and popped the incredibly large jawbreaker into his mouth. A moment later, he made an incredibly obnoxious sucking noise as he pulled the saliva that had escaped around the gobstopper back into his mouth. James sighed. Sirius grinned, which consequently forced him to repeat the incredibly obnoxious sucking noise as more saliva threatened to dribble down his chin.

* * *

"Emlyn!" Iliana yelled as she rounded a corner after her friend. "I swear!"

* * *

"So who knew Madam Pince has it in her to yell that loud?" asked Peter as they started to slowly climb a staircase.

"I ugzz serawee uurpized." Sirius said.

"What?"

James translated. "I was certainly surprised."

* * *

"You'll have to jump for it!" Emlyn yelled, turning around and running backwards, holding the pillow above her head. Iliana glared and put on a burst of speed. Emlyn was always abusing her height advantage.

* * *

All four Marauders stopped as they heard running footsteps heading their way from the corridor above them.

"Emlyn, _give_ me _back_ my _pillow_!" Iliana screamed as the pair came into view at the head of the stairs. Emlyn was still running backwards.

"Nope, you'll have to jump foraaAHHHHHHH!" Emlyn flew through the air backwards, unaware that there had been a staircase behind her. She let go of the pillow as she fell, curling herself up as if she were doing a cannonball into a pool. Iliana jumped into the air after her pillow, caught it, gave a loud "HA! – crap," and began falling after Emlyn. Illy actually managed two perfectly executed, though unintentional, somersaults in midair before ---

The Marauders, watching this strange scene amusedly, realized what was happening too late. Illy and Emlyn were quickly becoming the two bowling balls to the Marauders' pins, and the girls were going for a strike.

The six bodies connected with quite a few thuds and "Oofs," and the group seemed to accumulate limbs as it fell down the stairs, like a large, breathing snowball. This particular illusion kept up for what seemed like forever (but what was actually only about half a staircase), until they crashed, splayed and winded, on the landing below.

Emlyn landed directly in the middle of Sirius's stomach, and the air which had been stored there flew back up Sirius's windpipe, escaping into the surrounding bit of atmosphere, taking the Gobstopper with it. The jawbreaker flew in a wide arc above the group, landing about twenty feet to their left with a wet 'plunch.'

The minutes passed. Finally…

"Ow." James closed his eyes. "Someone please get off my arm, I can no longer eel it, and I'm about to panic."

Iliana rolled onto her side and used Remus's chest as a prop to pull herself to her feet. "Sorry," she said quietly, and retreated to the banister to watch the rest of them get untangled. Gosh, what has she been thinking? She was so embarrassed. Give me my pillow? How stupid! She mentally slapped herself. Damn her morning moods. _They probably think I'm a complete idiot.' _She ran a hand through her hair – or rather, tried, only to have her fingers get stuck amid the tangles. _Great. And to top it all off, I look like total crap. And of all people I could have run into – no, Illy, shut up, you don't know what you're talking about._ She sighed.

"Agh, I think I broke my ass bone," Sirius complained as he was helped to hid feet by Emlyn. He rubbed his lower back, but remained bent over. "I'm going to be a hunchback!" He wailed. Emlyn giggled.

"Oh, Padfoot, shut up," James said as he examined a very large bruise that was forming on his upper arm. "You've got a sharp spine, there, Illy."

She smiled, and stood from where she had seated herself on the stairs. "Sorry about that."

"What were you all running through the halls for anyway?" Peter asked, attempting for the third time to stand. He had gotten the worst port of the deal – he was on the bottom.

"I was just trying to wake Illy up, she sleeps too much." Emlyn gave a wry smile. "I find that a nice run first thing in the morning really hits the spot."

"Considering it's the middle of the afternoon." Remus said, bending down to pick up Iliana's pillow, which had gotten tangled in his legs. "Here ya go." He handed it back to her. "Might want to chain it to your bed from now on." He smiled.

Illy felt the heat rise in her cheeks. "Thanks." She took the pillow and hugged it absentmindedly to her chest, sending Emlyn a telepathic message to leave. Illy was fine with one or two people, but big groups…she couldn't stand big groups.

Miraculously, Emlyn turned towards the stairs. "Come on, Illy; don't you have to help Margie with her homework?"

"Oh yeah, I completely forgot. Bye guys." She waved, and joined her friend on the stairs. As they passed, an old man called out from within his gilded frame.

"Thanks a lot girls. That must have been the most exciting thing that's happened on this stairway for a hundred years."

"Oh, go choke on your—" Emlyn began, but was cut off by Iliana's slap to her arm. "Emlyn!"

"Well…" James started after the girls had disappeared. "Never thought I'd see Iliana Whitehurst behave like that. Now, Emlyn, that's just natural for her, but Illy – how uncharacteristic."

"Is Illy in our year?" Remus asked. James nodded. "I have never spoken a word to her in my life; I had no idea she was in our year." Remus looked at the floor thoughtfully.

"Yeah, well, she's not…usually…the speaking type. Unless you steal her pillow, evidently."

"Ah, here it is!" A voice called out a short distance behind James and Remus. Sirius was holding up his Gobstopper, which had some to rest at the pedestal of a suit of armor. He popped it back into his mouth.

"Padfoot…that's disgusting."

* * *

And, that's Chapter one...and you know what I know you love to do after you read a chapter? That's right…review! So hop to it, guys, I love ya! Criticism is welcome, but please…be gentle. I have a very fragile shield of confidence.

Nonsensically yours,

Ivy


	2. When a Man Loves a Woman

Disclaimer: Je ne possède rien ! Excepté Emlyn et Iliana, naturellement

Thanks, my two reviewers! Ya'll make my life!

Orior – Wow, thanks, I'm glad you liked it! Ha, I would have kept running too, but you know Illy, always the enochlophobe. I hope you like this chapter as much!

Summer Raindrop – Thanks! And yes, Lily makes her appearance in this chapter…she's rather the vixen, actually. Or possibly just fed up. : )

Nonsensically Yours,

Ivy

* * *

**Chapter 2 - When a Man Loves a Woman...**

"So how embarrassing was that?" Emlyn asked as the girls entered the safety of their dorm. It remained as they had left it, Iliana's clock lying in a heap of blankets on her bed.

"Uber," Illy said, rummaging through her trunk for some clothes. "I blame you, by the way."

"Me? What'd I do?"

"I'd probably still be in blissful sleep right now if you hadn't woken me up."

"Oh, come off it," was all Emlyn said. She had a sneaking suspicion that it was probably true.

Illy shrugged, and began brushing her matted hair. "I hope Margie isn't mad – how bad do I really look?"

"Awful," Emlyn said in an offhand sort of way.

"Ow!" Illy had just pulled out what felt like half the hairs on her head. _That's what happens when you sleep as sloppily as I do._ She stared at the twisted mess of blankets on her bed, and sat down on it, flinging herself onto her back, her arms stretched wide. "I'm such a loser."

"Psh, _yeah_ you are." Emlyn smiled. Illy rolled her eyes. "What does it matter, anyway?" Emlyn continued. "They're guys, they probably didn't even notice." She looked at Illy. "Unless….Illy, you're not still on about all that, are you? I thought you abandoned all that last year. For the better, I might add."

"I know, and I had. I mean I did. I mean I still do. Not – anymore. I mean—" She sighed, and raised her head a few inches off her bed. "It's still abandoned."

Emlyn looked at her, unconvinced.

"Emlyn – I promise. Now I've got to go help Margie." Illy stood, hurriedly pulled her hair back, and went into the bathroom to wash her face.

Emlyn shook her head, heaved a great sigh, and fell back onto her pillow, assuming Illy's previous position.

* * *

"Detrivorus Kneazle," James said, and the picture of the Fat Lady swung outward, revealing the passageway into Gryffindor Tower. The Common Room was quite crowded for a Saturday; evidently most people chose to stay inside near the fire rather than venture onto the grounds, which were quite cold, the earth frozen solid. Though it was dry, the thick clouds overhead threatened snow. The Marauders found a nice spot (a bit further from the fire than they would have liked), and settled themselves in. Peter pulled a complex chart of moon phases out of his pocket, as well as a piece of parchment so full of scratches and scribbles it was almost unrecognizable. "Remus, will you show me again how this whole moon thing works?" he asked, his face screwed up as he tried to read his own handwriting. 

"No," Remus answered from where he was laying, head on his arms, on the floor. "If you haven't figured it out by now, you're getting no more help from me. I take it as a personal insult."

Peter sighed, and turned the parchment upside-down. No improvement. After a while, he decided that it was useless, and stuffed the parchment and chart back into his pocket. He didn't really feel like doing homework anyway. Apparently neither did anyone else; just about everyone in the Common Room was lazing around, eyes drooping dangerously. Only one person seemed even vaguely interested in something. And that person happened to be a girl, with lovely red hair and green eyes, sitting near a window with a few of her friends, reading a book. Peter elbowed James, and nodded in her direction.

"Ah, my fair maiden awaits," James muttered. "Hey Evans! Whatcha doing?" he yelled.

"Plotting your demise," she replied immediately, not even bothering to look up.

James either didn't comprehend what she had just said, or chose to ignore it. "Want to go out next Hogsmeade weekend?"

"Not with a jerk like you," Lily said with the same evenness in her voice.

"That hurts, Evans. But there's this nice coffee shop, right on the corner—"

"Go to hell, Potter," Lily sang, still staring at her book.

"I will if you come with me."

Lily finally looked up. "The only reason I would go to hell would be because of what I'm about to do to you if you don't shut up and leave me alone."

James backed down, but smiled at his friends. "That's just her way of saying that she's tired of hiding her undying love for me. She'll come out any day now," he said reassuringly.

"Right, Prongs."

"Sure."

"Whatever you say, buddy."

* * *

A few hours later, Remus, James, and Peter watched, as they did every night, in awe as Sirius piled his plate with food: chicken, potatoes (mashed, boiled, _and_ sweet), green beans, beef tips and gravy, rice, corn on the cob, some odd-looking casserole, and a huge serving of coleslaw, plus four large rolls. 

"Got enough starch there, Padfoot?" James asked, poking a fork into Sirius's mashed potatoes.

Sirius slapped his hand away as he gave him his routine reply. "I've got to keep my form up; these muscles don't stay muscular by themselves, you know."

James rolled his eyes, and immediately jumped up from the table, nearly upsetting Sirius's plate into his lap.

"Hey, Lily—"

"_Don't_, Potter," she said shortly, giving him a warning look as she passed on her way down to the other end of the table. "_Why_ do all the guys in our year have to be so annoying?" she asked as she sat down.

James sat down slowly. He didn't get it. He had tried being blunt with Lily, and it didn't work. He had been nice to her, and it didn't work. He had defended her against Snape at least twice a week for the past six years, he had tried to give her presents, he had shown off quite a bit, he had been just as mean to her as she was to him, he had tried _everything_, but _nothing_ worked. For four and a half years he had been trying to win her over; _four and a half years_, and he had absolutely nothing to show for it. Anyone else would have thrown herself at him by now. _But this isn't just anyone_, he reminded himself. _This is Lily Marie Evans_. He sighed, and voiced his frustrations aloud to his friends.

Sirius put an arm around James's shoulder. "I'm sorry buddy. You can get her, though. If you're persistent enough, you can do it. She'll come to her senses yet."

James nodded, and prodded a carrot with his fork, resting his head on his left hand.

Remus hadn't heard much of this conversation; his attention was diverted by two people walking through the door, namely Emlyn and Iliana. The two girls headed over to the Ravenclaw table, and sat with their backs to the Marauders. But had Remus imagined it, or had Illy thrown a slight glance over her their way?

…but so what, right? It was probably just a careless glance. "I'm probably just imagining things," he mumbled.

"What?" James asked dejectedly, thinking that Remus had had something to add to what Sirius had just told him.

"Hm?" Remus looked at him. "Nothing."

Sirius watched Remus as his head swiveled with the girls, and jabbed his fork in their direction as he chewed, then stuck it in a potato to say, "I like that Emlyn Frank, I really do. She's a nice girl."

Remus blinked. "Wait – whatever happened to that Rosemary girl you were dating?"

"We broke up ages ago, Moony, where have you been?"

"And by ages, he means about three days," Peter said from Sirius's other side.

"She got really annoying and clingy after a while – and anyway, I don't like Emlyn like that. She's got a good attitude, that's all."

Peter grinned as Sirius dug into his casserole.

James was still in a bad mood as the foursome left the Great Hall thirty minutes later. He was halfway to the marble staircase when a certain Slytherin caught his eye. Severus Snape was shuffling past the Marauders, heading in the opposite direction. He was staring at his feet as he walked, a book tucked under his arm.

"I need some cheering up," James whispered to himself, and turned on his heel to face Snape's back. "Hey Snivellus!" he called loudly. Snape stopped in his tracks, and slowly turned, wiping his shoulder length, greasy black hair out of his flashing eyes as he stared evenly at James. He did not reply.

"Are you still wearing those nighttime diapers, Snape? Or have you finally gotten over your bed wetting problem?" James smirked at the look of embarrassment and anger that crossed Snape's face at his words. Yeah, this was definitely cheering him up.

"Here we go again…" Remus whispered in Peter's ear, and the two instinctively took a few steps back to avoid any poorly aimed spells. While retreating to safety however, they completely ran over the person who was standing behind them. "I'm sorry, I didn't see—" Remus whipped around to apologize, but stopped short in surprise. He had come face-to-face with Iliana; she had a look of mirrored surprise on her face. _No doubt from being completely bowled over_, Remus thought to himself. _Nice job, Moony._ Aloud, he repeated his apology. "We just keep running into each other, don't we?"

Illy nodded, her expression no longer one of shock. "Evidently – and it's ok." She gave a slight smile, and looked at her shoes.

"It's Illy, isn't it? Iliana?" Remus asked, though he knew perfectly well that it was.

She nodded. "And you're…sorry, but I don't know your name." She said, putting on the same façade.

Remus was slightly put out at this. But after all, they had only met each other once, and so far as he could recall, his name had not been mentioned. He smiled, and held out a hand. "Remus. Remus Lupin."

Illy shook his hand, repeating to herself over and over that she was through with this. She was through with it. She was.

Remus let go rather quickly, though he hoped that Illy hadn't noticed. Her hand was quite cold; he thanked the Lord that his hadn't been sweaty. After a moment of silence, he turned beside her and watched the scene unfold before them.

While Remus and Illy had been talking, James had shouted another insult in Snape's direction, as Snape's eyes narrowed into slits. Finally, he spoke, in a very low voice.

"What's the matter, Potter? Do you feel the need to renew your broken superiority complex? It is rather sad, actually, that you're such a stuck-up, conceited fool that you can't even get a mudblood to go out with you. Sometimes I think even those desperate attempts are merely an act you put on for attention." He paused. "I'm sick and tired of your crap, Potter!" Snape's voice rose in intensity as he uttered his last sentence. By now, even the older students in the hall, who had grown so accustomed to James's and Severus's bickering that they had started ignoring it, stopped to watch.

James stood there for a moment, anger reddening on his face. "That's it," he said, and repeated it. "That's it, Snape! I'm going to hex you till a baby otter extracts itself from your nose!" he shoved his hand into his pocket to retrieve his wand. ("I still need to look up on that," Sirius said to Peter in an undertone).

"Is there a problem here, boys?" a tart voice asked from the doorway to the Great Hall. Professor McGonagall strode forward and positioned herself between Snape and James. "Because if there is, I'm sure we could work it out in my office." Her lips thinned as she looked at them both questioningly.

"No, there's no problem, Professor," James said, never taking his eyes off of Snape, slowly taking his empty hand out of his pocket. "Severus and I were just discussing how the moss growing underneath his toenails has a slightly luminescent quality – we were wondering what genus it belonged to." Snape's lip curled at this reply.

Professor McGonagall tightened her lips. "Be that as it may, I am taking thirty points from both of your Houses – I'm tired of breaking up fights between you two. And I don't want to see this happening again." Her finger roved between James and Snape while she was speaking, and now her eyes followed suit. "Now get to your dormitories, both of you." She remained where she was, making sure they did as they were told. Both boys backed up slowly, no taking their eyes off of each other; it was impossible to tell which pair held more loathing in its gaze. Finally, Snape disappeared down the staircase to the dungeons; James turned halfway up the marble staircase and made a beeline for Gryffindor Tower, not bothering to wait for his friends. The crowd that had gathered around the feuding enemies finally dispersed in various directions.

Sirius and Peter headed directly after James, but Remus walked a bit slower, staying as close to Illy as was possible without it seeming overly obvious what he was doing. The two walked in silence for a short while, before Illy mumbled something unintelligible.

Remus turned around and waited for her, resuming pace beside her. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Why does he do that? Always instigate everything, I mean," Illy repeated a little louder.

"Who, James?" Illy nodded. Remus shrugged. "Beats the hell out of me. There's just a natural enmity between the two, it's like a mongoose and a snake, it's just instinct."

They fell silent once again, Remus desperately trying to think of something to say. "So…where's Emlyn?" he asked, looking around.

Illy shrugged. "She was talking to Scarlett, but I don't know where she is now."

"Ah." And then, for the sake of keeping up the conversation, though he really wasn't all that interested, he asked, "Who's Scarlett?"

"A whore," Illy said bitterly. Looking up at Remus, she said, "Well, in my opinion, anyway. Most people seem to think she's pretty decent. She's in our year; a Ravenclaw."

"Why don't you like her?"

Illy was silent for a moment, thinking. "It's another one of those mongoose – snake things, I guess, except on more of a nerd – princess level. We have competing auras. She's on the other side of the fence. River. Fiery burning marshmallow. Whatever. I tend to breathe oxygen, she tends to live off of carbon monoxide while converting nitrogen into a form plants can use. However you feel like putting it."

Remus chuckled. "You're not as quiet as everyone makes you out to be."

Illy was startled. "People make me out? I guess I'm not as much of a part of the scenery as I thought. But anyway, I normally _am_. I'm an enochlophobe, I guess. You know, fear of large crowds. With one or two people, I'm fine."

Remus nodded. After a moment, he said, "You're not any part of the scenery. You're one of the actors." Wow, how lame could he have been? _Bad metaphor, kid. Bad metaphor. Never say that again._ He made a mental note.

"Really? Did you know that I've been in your arithmancy class for three years? Here's my stop, I'll see you later." She waved, and quickly left along a side corridor towards the Ravenclaw Common Room.

Remus stood there for a moment, astounded. She was in his arithmancy class? And he had _never_ noticed her before? How was that possible? His legs slowly began moving again, and he climbed up the remaining floors alone, till he got to his dorm.

Remus shut the door, shaking his head. He couldn't believe it.Howcould he not have noticed? Sirius grinned from his position on his bed, and spoke, driving Illy out of Remus's mind. "There you go, James. We'll just sic Moony on him next full moon. Problem solved."

"Not funny, Padfoot." Remus plopped down beside him, and looked across at James, who was lying on his own bed, staring at the ceiling. "Who're we trying to mangle beyond recognition?"

"I'll give you three guesses," James said flatly.

"Ah. Monsieur Snape."

Sirius spoke up, his tone more serious. "Listen, Prongs, maybe you're letting this get to you too much. I mean, it's Snape, who cares what he says? Nobody listens to him anyway."

James sighed, and turned his head to face his friends. "I know, but –" he stopped. "I just wish he hadn't said anything about Lily," he said angrily. "She gave me the dirtiest look in the Common Room. She hates me, I _don't get it_."

"So _that's_ what this is about," Peter said from the foot of James's bed. "You don't care about Snape at all – it's just the fact that he called Lily a mudblood and stated the fact that you'll never get her."

James groaned, and turned his face back to the ceiling.

"It's called discretion, Wormtail; you are lacking." Sirius frowned, and turned his attention back toward James. "That's not what he meant—"

"Yes it is," James interrupted miserably. "She'll never want me. It just isn't going to work out. Maybe I should just give up." He closed his eyes, and slackened his face, as if defeated.

"No, Prongs! Don't give up! There's always a chance." Remus said encouragingly. Sirius nodded in agreement.

"Maybe you should just start ignoring her," Peter suggested. "You've been giving her all this attention, maybe if you left her alone, she'd change her mind."

"But isn't that what girls want? Attention?" James asked.

"Not necessarily." Remus's mind floated back to Illy for a second.

James opened his eyes and sat up. "You know, Peter, that just might work. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but neither does our relationship. ("Which is nonexistent," Sirius muttered). It just might work." James put on a thoughtful expression.

"So, make a move on Illy yet, Moony?" Sirius turned to Remus, seeing that James's problem was temporarily fixed.

"What are you talking about?" Remus asked.

"Well, you were walking with her, and you got here a bit later than us, and you were staring at her all through dinner…"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I just talked with her, she seems nice."

"You mean she seems nice in the same way as Sirius perceives Emlyn?" Peter asked.

Sirius gave a doglike growl, and chucked one of his shoes at Peter, who ducked. The shoe went flying out the window.

Sirius jumped up and quickly _accio_ed it back, to the background laughter of his friends.

* * *

A/N: Et c'est Chapitre deux, tout le monde! I'm not really all that happy with it, but I hope you liked it! I'll try to have chapter three up soon, but I can't be sure…now that summer school's started, I have less time. Curse my middle school for not offering algebra. Anywho… 

swings medallion back and forth in front of eyes- Review! Review….when I snap my fingers.

Aaaand….snap!


	3. Making Bets and Conversation

Disclaimer: My name is _not_ J.K. Rowling, I do _not_ live in the U.K., and I am _not _married, so I think it's safe to say that most things in this story are _not_ mine.

A/N: Hey guys, sorry this chapter took so long….I've been kinda busy, what with geometry and such. I wish I didn't get carsick when I try to do anything worth doing in the car, cause I was on a nine-hour car ride to and from South Carolina over the weekend…suck. Oh well. I had to lock myself in my room until I finished it today, lol. Thank you all soooo so so much for your reviews!

andy17 – Thanks! And thanks again, the ending was one of the few parts of chapter two that I actually liked.

ElizabethChrystal - Thanks bunches, that really boosts my self esteem!

Truelove and Truelove - Wow, you definitely make my life. Ah, gosh, I have to put up with more reviews? Darn, however will I be able to cope? ; ) And I definitely like your new name.

I think I'm turning into one of those people who makes really long authors' notes...sorry bout that...but now, without further ado...

* * *

**Chapter Three: Making Bets and Conversation**

Sirius yawned and rolled onto his side, snuggling under the covers. It felt like his eyes were glued shut. Why was he even awake? What time was it? He rolled back over and groped around blindly, trying to find his watch, which was resting on his side table. When he had it in his hands, he squeezed his eyes tightly, and wrenched them open. He had to do this a couple more times before anything around him came into focus. Sirius yawned again, and looked at his watch. His tired eyes widened. They had twenty minutes to get to class. He fumbled with his watch clasp as he put it on his wrist, and ripped back the curtains on his four-poster. Why hadn't anybody wakened him? Why hadn't—

Oh. Glancing around, Sirius saw that his friends were still asleep. An evil grin formed on his lips; for the first time in his life, _he _would be able to wake _them_ up. This was going to be fun. But first, he had to wake himself up. He sat back down on his bed and yawned; now that the initial shock of waking up so late was over, Sirius began to wonder if maybe he could go back to sleep for just five more minutes. His eyelids fell, and seemed to cool his burning eyeballs. That felt good.

Sirius slapped himself across the face as hard as he dared. He yelped, but it succeeded in waking him up. "Damn, why did I do that," he stated rather than asked, standing up and massaging his cheek. He looked around, and quietly opened Peter's curtains. He gave his cheek one more rub, winced, and picked up his wand. Sirius muttered a couple words under his breath, and the tip of his wand glowed with heat.

Peter was splayed out on his side, his chubby cheek squished against the pillow, a line of drool on his lip. Sirius grinned and placed his wand tip on the lobe of Peter's ear. It took a moment for the reaction. Peter shot up like a bullet, screaming bloody murder and holding his ear tightly. "Murder! Help! Bloody _murder_!" He hopped on the cold stone floor for a second before he saw Sirius standing by laughing his head off. "Padfoot!" Peter shoved him. "What's the big idea? Were you trying to pierce my ears again?"

"No. I'm trying to wake you up, it's time for class." He chuckled. "Now go get ready. And I still think you would look pretty with dangly earrings."

Peter scowled, but did as he was told.

Next, Sirius turned his attention to James and Remus. He opened the curtains around their beds, and stood for a moment, considering his options. Then he took a running start and leapt onto Remus's bed, feet on either side of his body, and jumped up and down violently, singing "Zippity Doo Dah" at the top of his lungs as he did so.

"PADFOOT!" was the first word out of Remus's mouth, before he even opened his eyes, as he sat up, instinctively shielding his face. "What exactly are you trying to accomplish here!"

Sirius stopped jumping, and bounced a little as the springs rebounded against his weight. He smiled broadly. "Wake up, sleepyhead!" he said in an incredibly childish voice.

Remus just stared at him, mouth slightly open. He shook his head slightly, and began waving his hands in front of his face as if he were about to sneeze. "Just—you—" he flung his hands forcefully downward. "Just get off my bed!"

Sirius saluted. "Aye, aye, Cap'n!" He jumped a couple more times to get a good start, and leapt onto his own bed, turning to face James, who had been awoken about the same time as Remus.

James' eyes widened considerably, and he tried to wriggle out form under his twisted blankets. "No, please!" he panted. "Please! I'm awake! Have mercy! Have—" His plea was cut off as Sirius jumped across the gap between the beds, and sent James about a foot into the air. Sirius stood straddling James, bouncing up and down. "Wake up, buddy!" Sirius then formed his mouth into a very large "O", and simply stood motionless on the bed, for no particularly apparent reason. This sent James into a fit of hysterical laughter, in the middle of which he quiteintentionally brought his legs up, kicking Sirius directly in the rear, causing him to tumble down on top of James, cheek connecting with nose. Sirius rolled off the bed, grabbing the sheets as his feet hit the floor. He stood clutching his cheek for the second time that morning. He grabbed some robes out of his trunk and threw them on over his pajamas.

"Sorry about that, James."

James smiled from where he was sitting on his bed, head tilted back, pinching his bleeding nose. "'s ok," he said.

"Note to self," Remus stood. "_Never_ sleep later than Padfoot on a weekday."

James and Peter nodded, and Sirius grinned as he backed toward the door. "Well, I'll see you kids in Transfiguration, I'm going to eat." He quickly departed.

"Eat?" Remus looked at the clock on his bedside table. "We have nine minutes to get to class – there's no way."

"This is Sirius, Moony. He always finds time to eat," Peter said as his own stomach growled. He patted it fondly. "Sorry pal, not today; I'll give you an extra-big lunch to make up for it."

Remus raised an eyebrow at James, who shrugged. His nose had finally stopped bleeding, and now he was furiously getting ready. Remus began doing likewise.

"Moony, have you seen my wand?" James asked frantically, searching through his bed sheets. Remus pointed to the floor beside James' trunk as he dug his Transfiguration and Arithmancy books out from under his bed.

"Thanks." James picked it up and ran into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

Three minutes later the boys were sprinting break-neck through the halls, jumping down five flights of stairs, not stopping until they were safely inside the Transfiguration classroom. Immediately, the bell rang.

Professor McGonagall gave them a disapproving glance as they walked in, but didn't say anything. Remus offered her a small smile as he and Peter strode to the back of the room and sat down across the aisle from Sirius, who was sitting straight-backed in his chair, hands in front of him. Remus tilted his head swiftly to the side, mentally congratulating his friend for making it on time.

James took a different route to his seat, going out of his way to walk by Lily's desk, as he so often did. This time, however, he made a point to ignore her, looking out the window as he walked.

Lily stopped writing as he passed, waiting for him to rudely disrupt her concentration. But James continued on. Lily's eyebrows rose slightly in surprise, and her lips pursed thoughtfully. She gave an almost unperceivable shrug, and began writing again. James sat down next to Sirius.

"Do you think she noticed that I ignored her?" He whispered hurriedly as soon as he sat down.

"Well, seeing as you usually get down in front of her on bended knee every class, yeah, she probably did. It's a pity you won't be able to keep this up, though."

"And what does that mean?" James asked indignantly.

"Well, I mean, come on, Prongs, there's no way that you'll be able to ignore her long enough for her to change your mind about you. You could try, but you won't even last a week, let's be realistic here."

"I can too ignore her for that long!"

"No, you can't."

"Yes I can!"

"Alright then…how about we bet on it?"

"I'm in," Remus said from across the aisle.

James narrowed his eyes. "I'm not going to bet on anything that involves Lily. I won't do it."

"Come on…" Sirius said soothingly. "Fifty Galleons that you can't ignore her _completely_ for a week."

"Fifty Galleons?" James said thoughtfully, and paused."I'll think about it."

"Alright!" Sirius said, and holding up his hand, took a rather large bite of what looked like thin air, chewing quickly. Responding to his friends' questioning looks, he said, "I put an invisibility charm on my muffin, so that I could eat breakfast and be in class at the same time."

"Hm…that's a pretty good idea, Padfoot."

Sirius beamed.

* * *

After class, Remus parted from his friends and walked slowly down the hall towards Arithmancy. For some strange reason, he had butterflies in his stomach. He halted, and ran his hand down his hair, flattening it from the part. Why was he so nervous? _What is wrong with you, Remus? _He asked himself. _Honestly, it's not like you...like her, or anything...cause you don't, _he added firmly. He sighed, and placed his hand on the doorknob. He still couldn't see how he had missed Illy all this time. He pushed the door open, and glanced around. 

It took a long minute for him to notice her. No wonder he had never seen her before; Illy was sitting in the very back corner of the room, alone, shadows from the chandelier overhead veiling her almost completely. Her brown hair fell into her face as she leaned over the book she was reading, completely ostracized from the rest of the class. Remus watched as she absentmindedly tucked her hair behind her ear.

A throat was cleared behind Remus. He turned, to see Professor Gerontakis looking pointedly at him. "Would you care to take a seat, Mr. Lupin? Or would you like to teach the class today? I would love to have some time off."

"Oh, no. Sorry, Professor." Remus hesitated a moment longer. Should he sit next to Illy, to show her that he had noticed her? Or would that be coming on a bit too strong? His eyes flicked between the empty seat beside Illy and his own, beside a sixth year Hufflepuff. He bowed his head and hurried over to his own chair. Maybe next class.

A minute later, as Professor Gerontakis began taking up the homework assignments, Illy looked up from her book. Her eyes wandered to the back of Remus's head, as they had done so many times before, and she sighed, resting her head in her hand. To be truthful, she was a little disappointed that he hadn't at least come over to say hi to her. But why did it matter? _You're over that, remember? What is wrong with you, Iliana?_ She asked herself, unaware that a similar thought had just crossed Remus's mind. She shook her head to rid her mind of the thoughts that were threatening to fill it, and turned her attention to the professor.

About half way through class, Illy started contemplating throwing her inkwell at Remus. She chuckled to herself as she fingered it. How uncharacteristic _that_ would be. She wished she had the guts to do it. She frowned, looking at the rest of the class. There was a lull in the lesson, and everyone was chattering away, including Remus. How much Illy wished she could do that. If only she could get over her self consciousness, all her insecurities – she could be like that. But she just wasn't a conversationalist; she had no idea where to start.

Wait; did he just--? She was pulled out of her thoughts by what appeared to be a sideways glance from Remus. No. Or—yes, there, again. She pretended not to notice, but snuck a look out from under her eyelashes. Too late. He was back to his conversation with the guy next to him. But Illy smiled to herself. Maybe she actually had a chance.

_A chance? A chance for what? Nothing. Exactly. Now shut up and get back to class._

* * *

While all this was traveling through Illy's head in Arithmancy, three-quarters of the Marauders were sitting around a large round table in the top of the North Tower. 

"I can't believe I haven't dropped this class yet. It's _such_ a pile of rubbish." James muttered as he glanced mildly around the room. It still looked as it always had, with the exception of the new purple fire crackling in the fireplace. Though there was plenty of light shining in through the windows, dozens of small purple candles floated about two feet from the ceiling, blue flames throwing shining circles on the walls and ceiling, leaving patched shadows on the floor. The candles created a slight purple haze that misted through the room, congesting around the windows and ceiling beams. Heavy purple curtains were tied back on either side of the windows, and identical ones hung from the rafters, extending to about four feet below. Between these curtains hung strings of various dried spices, sending a mild, sweet, burning odor through the nose. On either side of the large fireplace stood a deep glass-fronted cabinet, one containing crystal balls of varying sizes, the other holding many white porcelain teacups and saucers, as well as a gorgeous teapot. Around the room were about half a dozen round tables.

"Yeah, but you're guaranteed to pass," Sirius pointed out as he leaned back in his chair, pulling James' hand with him. "By the way – you're either going to have one son, or own three female…hippogriffs? I can't tell which."

"And it looks like, coincidentally, you'll own one male hippogriff, and never get married." Peter said, tracing a wrinkle in Sirius's palm with his eyes.

"Hear that, Prongs? My hippogriff is going to have fun at your house." He winked.

James rolled his eyes. "I think I'll take the son, thanks. And Wormtail? It looks like you're going to go through a period of indecision, and lose…what?" He consulted his palmistry manual. "Lose a limb. How can you tell all this from somebody's hand? Gah, this is so stupid."

"Yeah," Sirius agreed. "I mean, by the looks of this, you're going to die tomorrow from lack of Lily Evans."

James glared. "Will you just drop it? I know what you're trying to do, and I still haven't taken the bet yet."

"Cause you know you'll lose." Peter taunted.

"No, I won't. I can last a week without Lily – what about summer vacation, huh?"

"Yeah, but during the summer you're not in close proximity to her person, so there's nothing to tempt you. Unless you count that picture of her on your bedside table. And besides, I'm sure you have other ways to cope." Sirius grinned.

James threw his divination book at Sirius, earning a shout and warning from the petite Professor Ridley.

James crossed the room to retrieve his book, and as he sat back down he whispered, "Fine. I'll take the bet. Fifty Galleons from all three of you that I can not talk or look at Lily for a week."

"Can we get that in writing?" Peter asked.

James scribbled on a piece of parchment and signed it, passed it to Peter, who also signed it, and to Sirius, who did likewise, folded it, and stuck it in his pocket. "Cheers."

* * *

When the bell rang signifying the end of class, Remus surprised Illy as well as himself as he walked up to her. "Hey." 

"Hey," she said, standing and gathering her things. She stood in front of him, waiting for him to say something else.

"Why are you back here all alone?" He asked after a pause.

She shrugged. "It's comfortable. I'm a very…cornerish person."

Remus smiled at this. "To the Great Hall?" he asked, and turned towards the door. Illy got in step and walked with him. "Are you taking any advanced classes this year?" he asked.

She nodded. "Transfiguration, Ancient Runes, and Astronomy. You?"

"Defense Against the Dark Arts – I'm going to take up Transfiguration next year. Ancient Runes and Astronomy? That's different."

"Yeah. I have a strange fascination with space. I always have. Love the stars. And I'm thinking of maybe becoming a code-breaker or something for the Ministry."

"That sounds interesting, what department would that be in?"

"Not sure, really. International Cooperation, maybe? Mysteries?"

"Ah, you could be an Unspeakable."

"Might as well be, I'm already an untouchable."

Remus laughed. "I have no idea what I'll be when I graduate. A bum, probably," he said. How could he be anything else? Who wants a werewolf as an employee?

"I'm sure there's something out there for you," Illy said as they arrived at the top of a second floor staircase.

_Yeah, like a cardboard box_, Remus thought dejectedly as two first years flew up the stairs, laughing and chasing each other. He was suddenly in a not-so-happy-as-he-was-a-minute-ago mood.

"You know, sometimes I just want to take off points just for them being so annoying," Illy stated as she looked back at the first years.

"I know what you mean," Remus replied. "Wait, you're a prefect? Where's your badge?"

Illy laughed. "I lost it about two months ago. Haven't felt like getting a new one."

They had reached the top of the marble staircase, and descended in silence. At the entrance to the Great Hall, they parted, and went their separate ways.

* * *

...and that's that. Hope you liked it! I'm a bit iffy with it myself, but I can be a harsh judge. You know what rhymes with judge? Fudge, and I'll give some to anyone who can recognize the unintentional Jimi Hendrix reference. And of course, this is also merely a ploy to get you all to review...lol, so jump at it! 

Nonsensically yours,

Ivy


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